New communal meter means new cable?

mjcuk

Hi all,

I live in a block of 6 flats and need some advice on the communal electricity supply used for powering the stair lighting and intercom system.
We have had a communal supply in place ever since I've been in the flat (and I suspect for decades before) but this was actually coming off the council's unmetered electricity supply that they have for the streetlights. Some of the owners were under the impression that the council had given permission to do this (years ago) in exchange for being able to attach a streetlight to our building and install some equipment in our hallway. Someone from the council recently became aware of our setup and said that we can no longer do this and need to get a seperate meter installed for the communal supply. I have not been able to locate any evidence of there being such an agreement in place with the council so it seems the only option is to do what they say and get a meter installed.

I approached SSE about getting a meter installed for this and they sent through a quote. The quote has now come in and it is around £1600! This is a lot more than I expected as they seem to be planning to run a whole new cable into the building.
I have been told that this is the only way we can get a new meter installed - is this correct? I'm struggling to understand why they can't tap into one of the existing supply cables rather than putting in a new one?

Is there a simpler/cheaper way of getting a meter installed? Or do I need to be speaking to a different company?

Thanks,

Mike

Enterprise_1701C

H Ave you asked how much they are going to pay you for the rental of the space in the hallway and the ongoing attachment of the streetlight ?

rogerblack

1600 pounds would cover the running cost of appropriately energy efficient lighting and intercoms for a very, very long time.
If SSE won't budge on this - and it's plausible that there are legislative reasons why - it may be worth considering how to do it with a simple connection to one of the premesis, and your own meter.
Who is the landlord?

jalexa

mjcuk wrote: »

Someone from the council recently became aware of our setup and said that we can no longer do this and need to get a seperate meter installed for the communal supply. I have not been able to locate any evidence of there being such an agreement in place with the council so it seems the only option is to do what they say and get a meter installed.

I tend to agree with Enterprise, though perhaps my judgement is clouded by a detestation of council jobsworths. How did the council person fist become aware of the issue? There is an obvious question is response to the "we can no longer do this" council comment. Two actually, since when and on what decision basis?

First of all was the block ever in council ownership and/or is it now privately owned? Are individual flats owned or rented? Secondly have you received the council demand in a letter or verbally? If a letter is it in any way "weasily worded"?

You mention equipment in the hallway. What is the equipment and what does it do? Regarding the streetlight, I believe that would have required the then property owners agreement, a copy of which should have been lodged with the title deeds, whether for the block or the affected flat I am not certain.

I would request the council to clarify the permission status of the streetlight and the hall equipment. Vigorously pursue the timetable of the response (probably none) via the council complaint's procedure.

Anyway I would play a long game and force the council to escalate the issue their way, then attempt to drive a wedge. The worst case is the lights go out, but there are different ways to restore a modicum of lighting for quite low cost. The cheapest would be a battery powered PIR system.

You mentioned SSE. Is that an indication the property is in Scotland where property law differs?

Edit: OK noticed mention of the intercom so the power situation is a little more complicated.

chanz4

They will of been quoting for a new service cable, which would also need to be 3 phase, so not that bad of price.

jalexa

chanz4 wrote: »

which would also need to be 3 phase,

Why why why?

mjcuk

Thanks for the responses so far.

I am in Scotland so the flat is in freehold and never owned by the council. The 6 owners handle any communal issues together.

The person from the council did say that we can ask them to move they're equipment (basically a fuse box) so I expect if we ask them to continue to compensate us for housing their equipment then they will just move it and cut off our communal supply.
It also doesn't feel like we have much of a leg to stand on as we have no evidence of having permission to use the council's supply. The council are claiming not such agreement could ever exist and that whoever tapped into the supply did so without their permission.
I checked the title deeds and it makes no mention of the council being able to site their equipment on/in our building, nor does it say anything about us being allowed to use their supply.

The council is one thing but the other is the cost for installing a meter. I don't doubt that £1600 isn't bad for running a new cable but I don't understand why we need a new cable. The load is less than 2kva so why can't a new meter tap into an existing supply?

Mike

Buzby

There's something not right. Even assuming the council are running a street lamp, they will take this off the property feed as unmetered. If they ave their own fuse box I have no doubt if this is isolated, the street light will go out, and the dwellings remain powered. This will prove the building supply is yours, and the council piggybacked your cabling - in which case, as the load will be reduced there is no requirement for any recabling unless sub-standard. Even so, your responsibility is for after your meter, and SSE are only quoting for a requested cable modification.

The primary feed is yours, supplying the property. The council are the interlopers, and regardless of the history, without the original feed, the council wouldn't have anything to hook into.

Terrylw1

Why not go back to the original supply plans to add to Buzby's point?

The old regional distributor should have details of why they installed the supply. It might be a way to prove the property owner requested and paid for the supply.

In elec, the MPAN's are in the distributors database and it has a data item called Measurement Class which shows whether the property is registered as metered or unmetered. If its metered, the distributor knows its not for street lighting.

Before quoting, they should have checked into this but they could have missed the original plans if the Measurement Class has been changed to unmetered in error.

Distribution is now fully privatised so you can approach any distributor for a quote, so you can should around.

Terrylw1

jalexa wrote: »

Why why why?

Depends on how many communal properties are going to share it but the planning engineer would have detailed it all in the quote pack.

jalexa

mjcuk wrote: »

The council is one thing but the other is the cost for installing a meter. I don't doubt that £1600 isn't bad for running a new cable but I don't understand why we need a new cable. The load is less than 2kva so why can't a new meter tap into an existing supply?

Neither do I and I would dismiss the 3 phase suggestion which doesn't make sense for a communal lighting/door entry supply.

Is the existing main supply to the block obvious? Is it a single supply cable or is each flat cabled separately? Do you have a communal meter room?

£1600 seems excessive but hard to comment without the details.